Exhale
by Glitter Angel
Summary: Sequel to High Velocity. In the aftermath of all that has happened, the Senshi must continue to live their lives and cope. The problem is, living each day may be the hardest.
1. Drown

Exhale

Silence reigned over the scene. Quiet, that was all he wanted. Inside, he felt as if he were dying. Well, in a way he was. He had died that day. Everything he had hoped and dreamed for had vanished, had disappeared and left in a single instant. Like her. Her beautiful, pure soul was gone. And so was his life.

Mamoru walked slowly up to the front of the now over funeral. Sunlight fell across his long, midnight bangs that jutted before his cool, sapphire eyes. He was still and silent during the entire service. All he wanted was one last goodbye.

He reached the coffin and looked down upon it. Overwhelming sadness seemed to grasp him and hold him hostage. It was inconceivable that inside this mahogany box, inside that deep blackness, Usagi was there. She was there. And soon she would be in the ground. Gone.

He placed a hand on the coffin, which beneath was a single red rose. Sat there staring at it. Nothing was the same anymore. The sweet aroma of flowers bit at his senses, conjured up emotions and feelings and memories of things they had done. All of those fights they had been in, all in VAIN. All for nothing. Nothing was saved. He wasn't saved. He couldn't save her. He would never save her again…

He wandered out of his sorrow, and a single tear fell. It landed next to the rose and slid down to the grass. He wiped his eye quickly and took a deep breath. He felt so lost, like a child that had been stranded in the middle of the ocean on a life raft. Time should be frozen, and, oh, how he wished it could. Or for time to roll back, so he could have a few more precious moments with her, to feel her liveliness, her joy…

More tears streaked down his face. Life seemed like a great burden. He had no reason to live. It was as if his insides had been scraped out and he was hollow. He leaned over and gently kissed the top of the coffin, his tears pouring onto the glossy surface.

He stood back, looking at the beautiful arrangement of flowers, and sighed deeply. Walking off into the distance, his thoughts kept on reverting back to her…and his new life without her.

* * *

Ami sat and cried. She couldn't believe all that had happened. She had seen one of her friends being _murdered_. She had lost so much. Everything seemed upside-down.

At night, oh, that was awful. She would lay her head against the pillow and stare at her bedroom ceiling until sleep came, and she was tossed into an unending peril of images; Miya's blood, her screaming, the agony, the crying, the sheer pain of the whole ordeal. She felt like she was dying herself; in her dreams, bullets ripped through her chest, her blood staining her white school blouse, her body, helpless and lifeless. Waking up in a cold sweat wasn't unusual anymore. She barely got any sleep, for every time she closed her eyes the scenes would replay over and over and over again, in a cruel form of torture.

Then, she had been so calm, so simply unaffected by what she had seen in those fifteen minutes. She had simply walked out of the library and out on the front lawn of the school, and then to hear the harrowing news. She hadn't cried then; all she had heard were words, words that didn't connect or make sense or relate to anything. Just words. Words that became truer every damn day of her life.

Usagi's funeral had left her numb. She knew she was there, and, yes, she could see her friends crying, but that didn't form anything in her head. Yes, there was Usagi's coffin and yes, there were her parents crying over there, but this didn't mean anything to Ami.

She slowly collapsed onto her bed, staring at the failing blue light that peeked from her window which was covered with white blinds. The air seemed so thick now. It was so hard to breathe. Every day, it seemed like she was choking down the sadness, gulping down air to hold it in, pulling her farther and farther away.

She smiled wryly. Ami closed her eyes and instead of the morbid scenes was greeted with Usagi's smiling face, now an ebbing memory that was squared off somewhere in her brain. Her golden locks of hair bobbed about as she looked for Makoto's hidden treats at lunchtime….laughing at Minako's twisted jokes and insane crushes….talking about Mamoru, and how much she loved him. Her voice was simply an echo now, an echo that pulled at Ami's memories and seemed to be flitting away.

Ami breathed deeply and contentedly, finding peace for a short time. She fell off to sleep, reliving the good days that had passed.

* * * 

Makoto stirred vigorously. She pulled her whole self into that bowl, that chocolaty mess. She gasped, pressing and mixing harder. With every turn of the wooden spoon she let put a little cry. She finally stopped and sat back on the floor, gasping and crying, then sobbing. The bowl fell from her hands and cracked into pieces, spilling the batter on the floor beside her, but she wasn't aware of the mess being made. She choked on her sobs, fury and anguish pulsating through her body. She had never felt this mush sorrow since she was left orphaned by a plane crash, something so inconceivable. Something so inconceivable as this.

She looked over to the batter on the floor and realized what she had been making.

Brownies.

She was a bit taken aback by her decision of food. That was the very thing Usagi loved to have after Home Economics. Makoto smiled a bit and dipped her finger on a piece of chocolate laying on a large piece of the glass bowl and tasted it.

She hadn't given her any brownies that day. Makoto was kind of remorseful for that act; if she had known what was to happen, she would have been a lot more nice.

She sighed deeply and put her head back on a cabinet behind her and closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted. Makoto fell asleep right there, on the kitchen floor.

* * *

Minako was lost. She had taken a nap, but she didn't know the reason why. Bleary-eyed, she glanced at her clock and saw that it was 7:30 already, and yelped.

"Oh God! Usagi is gonna be sooo pissed off at me for not telling her about the project due tomorrow…"

Minako stopped halfway across the room to her telephone when reality set in. She stood straight up and sort of looked around, saddened deeply. She bit her lip and sighed, retreating back to her bed.

The doctor had given her some sleeping pills after she had been released from the hospital. She grasped the bottle firmly, and screwed off the top in one swift movement. She poured the rest of the pills into her hand and, with harrowing unhesitating nerve, dropped them into her mouth and swallowed with a swig from the water beside her dresser.

Minako sighed and laid back on her bed quietly, and stared. She looked over at her clock, the red numbers blurring and tumbling from her sight down a dark hallway inside her mind. She took a deep breath and waited, waited for something, anything, to take it away.

To take away the pain.

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A/N: Wow, I can be such an evil author sometimes XD WHat will happen to everything now? Look out for chapter two!


	2. Transparent

Exhale

The roses were particularly vibrant. They stuck out of the misty halo of atmosphere that she seemed to be surrounded in. Where she was, she didn't know. All she could keep her eyes on was those flame-red petals and the tingling aroma.

Rei walked forward, and reached her hand up to touch one. It seemed like such a forbidden thing, to touch these roses, sort of dark and foreboding. A slight hesitation roused itself inside of her, screaming at her not to touch the rose, but there was no reason for her to be afraid of a flower.

She picked one off the thick traveling vine and held it in the palm of her hand, studying it. She turned it to the side and held its stem, and a thorn pricked her finger, droplets of ruby blood escaping from her finger. Rei dropped the rose, which shattered into a million fragments of crystal. Rei turned, and suddenly she was face to face with Usagi, who was blank, staring and emotionless.

"I'm broken. You need to fix it."

Her words echoed, off into that deep expanse, and her eyes continued to burn into Rei's, her expression (or lack of one) unnerving and eerily scary.

Rei awoke in a cold sweat, gasping for air. Angry red numbers on her clock across the room glared 1:30 AM. She looked down at herself dressed in pajamas and tangled up in her bed sheets, and realized that she'd had a dream.

A dream.

She sighed deeply and slid her damp head back onto her pillow. Broken? What did that mean?

What did anything mean anymore?

Her thoughts were interrupted by her telephone. She groaned, reached over and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" She yawned and stretched, relishing in the wonderful softness of her warm bed. She really needed sleep. Ever since….it happened, she hadn't had so much as an hour of sleep.

"Oh, God….no! You have to be joking….oh please, no….I'll be right over!" Rei leapt out of bed, slamming the phone shakily back into its cradle, and shivering at the biting coldness of the floor in her room. Her knees trembled as she pulled on a jacket and shoes hurriedly.

Minako was in danger.

* * *

Minako was being pulled down the stairs of her house. Hushed voices moved quickly around her as she was slid to the front door.

She could feel her body being pushed, but she couldn't respond. She felt heavy, like she had been sleeping forever. It was so hard to breathe. There didn't seem to be enough air around her.

Gradually, she slid her eyes closed again and fell into a turntable of uncertainty.

* * *

Ami stared down at her friend. Minako was pale. So pale. She looked like Usagi on her funeral day. Ami quickly tried to push this thought out of her head but it lingered a bit, making Ami feel uneasy.

She couldn't loose another friend like this. She just couldn't. None of them could. They still weren't over Usagi. Their beloved princess wasn't even buried a day ago. This would break everything, any last string of sanity that she held, would be severed, cut forever, if the unthinkable happened.

The unthinkable.

Makoto sat on the other side of Minako's bed, opposite Ami. She stared blankly down at Minako's still form, sort of contemplating something. Her auburn ponytail was messily pulled back and falling down. Dark circles framed her emerald eyes. It seemed that she was on her last glimmer of hope too, just like the rest of them. Slowly, but surely, it was slipping away, no matter how hard she held onto it.

"She took a whole bottle of sleeping pills." Makoto's frail voice broke the silence in the room.

Ami murmured a response.

Makoto broke into a small sob.

"Why would she do this? It can't be that…painful…" Makoto hugged herself, searching for comfort, for something inside herself to make this disappear. This unending nightmare.

Ami simply looked down at her hands, closing her deep aqua eyes.

"But it is. So painful. I can't…..I can't get to sleep at night….when I close my eyes, all I see is Miya, and the blood….and the gun…and myself, lying on the floor, helpless….helpless…" Ami's voice dissolved into the air, evaporating on the last word.

The door behind them opened quickly and Rei bustled in, taking in the scene of Minako on the hospital bed. She took a seat beside Makoto and simply stared at Minako.

Rei's body ached for sleep. Her soul screamed out, her whole body screamed for peace. Her silvery voice chilled the air as her eyes rested on Minako.

"She…she tried to commit suicide, didn't she?"

Makoto nodded slowly and sullenly.

The room seemed so empty. The cool reality of just the four of them was setting in, as each of them seemed loss and helpless in their own way. The air seemed so thick lately; so hard to breathe, yet, so much extra space now that there were only four of them…

Monitors beside Minako began to screech mechanically, and the Senshi's faces each held a look of panic as a doctor and a nurse rushed in. Minako's pale look had gone gray, a sickening color that was unnatural for a human. Ami stood in horror, gasping at the scene.

They wheeled Minako out swiftly into a hallway, the Senshi in tow. A few nurses pulled them back, but Makoto struggled.

She began to cry out, but was held down as Minako disappeared with the doctor down a hallway and into an operating room. She broke free and collapsed to her knees, sobs wrenching her body, and buried her head in her hands. Ami rushed to her side and began to comfort her.

Rei took in all of it, simply stood there, rigid and straight.

Things had shattered.

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A/N: Not many notes for this chapter, but more chapters to come soon. These are much longer than the chapters in High Velocity, so I hope you like the length a lot more ^_^


	3. Rainstorm

Exhale

Mamoru looked around. His feet stood on nothing, on air. The landscape receded to blackness, a cool, foreboding coal. He felt lonely here. In this dimension, a hazy, unclear one, he felt cold. Chills went up and down his spine as a figure slid from the darkness and came closer.

"Usako…" The words crept from his mouth in a light whisper. Usagi, dressed in her school uniform, was sort of rolling slowly forward, her feet unmoving, through the eerie mist. Her eyes, oh, her eyes, they pierced his heart, held him, strangled him with their ambience. Their ice blue gaze burned into his eyes, as she slipped closer, keeping her eyes on his, and pulled her arms around him.

Usagi smiled as she pulled her hand up and laid it gently on his cheek. He breathed deeply, taking in her presence, the sweet smell of her skin, her touch. Mamoru felt so overwhelmed. A tear fell from his eye and slid down Usagi's hand. He opened his eyes and wrapped her in his arms.

"Usako...oh, Usagi…" He repeated her name over and over, holding her close and stroking her hair. Mamoru never wanted to let her go; she may disappear again, leave again without warning, and he would never be able to get her back. The thought made him sob, whispering her name repeatedly.

Usagi pulled back, staring into the depths of his eyes. She pulled down his head gently and lightly kissed his lips, then was released from his arms. She pulled her locket off the red bow in the front of her uniform, and grasped Mamoru's hand as she placed it in his palm. It opened, the tiny silver crystal in the middle glinting with a supernatural light. The lullaby-like symphony played, slowly and dreamily.

The music was haunting, chilling. Its chords plucked at the air with silver notes, a silent melody traveling through his head. It was so enchanting, and maddening, and sorrowing and horrible and wonderful at the same time. Memories flooded his head, the music easing his mind.

Usagi stood, and walked off, leaving Mamoru holding the locket, unable to move. He tried to call out after her, but his voice was frozen. She looked behind her slowly, blankly and ghost-like, and ran off into the darkness, as Mamoru fell, abandoned, tumbling…

Mamoru awoke, feeling like he had just been slammed back into his body. Rain poured outside, making small drumming sounds on the roof of his apartment. He gasped for air and sat up in bed. The loneliness of his bedroom set in, like lead weighing down his body. He caught his breath, breathed deeply and slowly. It was a dream. All a dream.

A dream. Nothing more…

A small cry escaped from his lips. Where was she..? Was she okay? These things tumbled into his mind. Say it wasn't so; he could throw on his coat, run through the pouring rain, and she would be there. Sit by the phone, and she would call him, she would be there, she would know the sorrow that he was going through.

Did she miss him as much as he was missing her?

Did she feel this empty feeling? Did she…did she…

Alone. Mamoru was getting accustomed to this feeling every day. He fell back onto his pillow and listened to the rain, the lonely sound of the rain.

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A/N: Latest edition of 'Exhale'! What will happen to Mamoru? What is going on with Minako, and will she pull through? What about the fears that Ami, Rei, and Makoto each live with? Check out the next chapter of Exhale soon ^.^


	4. Thunder

Exhale

Makoto walked silently. The rain cascaded wetly down her umbrella, silver droplets glistening in the dark. The sidewalk lay damply before her, a pool of cement and rainwater.

She concentrated on her damp footsteps, echoing into the dark. The rain fell harder now, pattering against her umbrella in a plastic sort of tone. Above her, apartments cast bright shadows on the sidewalk, warm and welcoming windows with their cozy living rooms. Makoto walked past quickly, keeping her head turned toward the slippery cement.

The rain beat harder against her flimsy excuse for an umbrella and she flung it down in frustration, letting the droplets fall freely down her auburn hair. She walked faster, not giving a care to how wet she was getting.

Makoto walked swiftly, having no destination in mind. She seemed to have this pent up anger, or frustration, or energy, or SOMETHING she couldn't identify flowing through her veins, making her stomach uneasy and her soul shudder. Fear? Maybe. She'd been experiencing fear a lot lately. Fear mingled with a large dose of pain. "Just the right combination that can kill a person…" she thought numbly. Minako's face flashed before her eyes, and she clenched her teeth, breathing deeply.

She splashed into a puddle, which caught hold of her foot, tripping her. She fell to her knees and began to sob. Something fell out of her pocket and clattered across the cement. Makoto sat back on her knees, her eyes closed, the rain mingling with her tears. She opened them and looked over to the object that had slid out of her coat.

The locket.

The locket gleamed a pearly pink, trimmed in tiny golden stars and an engraving of a silver moon in the center. Jade lined the edges, cracked from the ordeals it had been through. Raindrops fell on its surface, attaining the appearance of silver pearls. She picked it up slowly and held it in the palm of her hands.

She gently opened the tiny clasp and the top popped open. The lullaby-like melody drifted out weakly, slowly, grasping at the rainy, damp air and tugging at Makoto's heart. She was brought back to that day; that horrendous day when everything precariously balanced had toppled down before her eyes. It was so painful, so harrowing.

She snapped it closed, the melody silenced. Standing, she walked silently down the street.

* * *

Minako walked through the mists, a filmy orange dress tangling around her ankles. Wherever she was, it seemed mysterious. Glitter seemed to emanate from the atmosphere, landing on her nose and making her smile.

She was going forward, toward a golden light, so bright she had to shield her eyes. It was warm there; so warm and so cozy. Sweet music, violins, swam around her. She closed her eyes, and was thrust into memories..

"Usagi?"

"Yes, Mina-chan?"

"What does it feel to be in love..?"

Usagi laughed. "It feels wonderful…like a dream you never want to wake up from. It's like…having the best days of your life all in a row. Feeling safe with someone like you never have before…" Usagi got that dreamy look in her eyes, which usually meant she was off in her own mind and lost in her fantasies.

Minako and Usagi laughed, Minako pulling a chocolate shake in front of Usagi's face, making her drop out of her dreamy state.

Minako opened her eyes, laughing. She was greeted with Usagi's blue eyes one inch away from her's. Minako gasped deeply, unblinking.

Usagi smiled, and then pulled Minako back, reversing her direction from the golden comfort and to a dark blue spiral downward. Minako tried to cry out to Usagi, who simply shook her head, but her voice seemed to have disappeared. She fell, farther and farther, faster and faster, and was slammed at an amazing speed downward.

Minako opened her eyes and breathed deeply, half-screaming and half-crying, as she jumped and shook her hospital bed. Monitors and machines yelped and beeped. Above her stood relieved doctors, one which was holding a pair of paddles on her chest, staring at her eagerly.

Minako turned her head weakly to look out the window, stained with droplets of rain, then rested her head back on her pillow, her hair spread around her like a halo, and slipped into sleep as a roll of thunder screeched outside.

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A/N: No notes for this chapter. Look out for the next installment of Exhale, chapter 5 ^.^


	5. Destiny

Exhale

we were five steps  
from eternity  
we were four steps  
four steps past love  
and three wishes  
three wishes from touching the heavens above

The rain trickled wetly along the windows, reciting an endless song of silence. The drops left silver streaks across the glass, little tangles of water on a landscape of smoothness.

Mamoru turned his head at the soft knock from his apartment door. He got out of bed and walked slowly to the door and opened it to find Makoto standing there, crying and wet.

Her emerald eyes shot him a sorrowful look.

"Destiny's been broken…our destinies have been ruined. Sooner or later we will have to fight…and I'm not sure how we will…" Makoto's soft voice blended with the symphony of the rain, dripping off of her auburn hair in large drops.

"It's painful…painful for all of us…and with Minako…" Her voice became a dull whisper, a single splinter of sound. She reached down and pulled out the locket, a gleaming reminder, and held it out to him.

Mamoru simply stared dumbly at her, unable to move, unable to speak due to the overwhelming wave of sadness that had washed over him. It was so true, so unbelievably, profusely true.

Mamoru slowly stepped out of the apartment and looked down at the small, pink circle. Moonlight shot through the rain and dimly lit the black and dark night around them, casting eerie shadows about the small porch.

Mamoru looked sadly at Makoto. His eyes emanated so much pain and agony and sadness. He pulled in and tilted his head towards her's, kissing Makoto softly on the lips. She pushed back from him, his hand sliding down to her's. She closed her eyes and whispered ever-so-lightly, slightly pushing his hand away, his fingers locked within her's.

"Oh God, Mamoru…no…please, don't…" A tear slid down her cheek. "Please…" Makoto pulled her hand from his and ran into the heresy of rain, dropping the locket at his feet. He simply stared at her disappearing form as a chilling breeze came past, swinging cold mists of the rain in his direction.

Mamoru picked up the locket, cool to the touch, and went back to his apartment.

* * *

Minako looked around at her dark hospital room. Her thoughts scared her, everything did. One question would confront her in her dreams, when she closed her eyes, when she had nothing else to ponder.

Would Usagi still be here?

'She should be..' Minako weakly pulled the covers up to her chin, staring at the ceiling above her.

Usagi could have been saved. That was her sole purpose, the whole reason that Minako was brought back to the earth.

To protect the princess. And she had failed.

She sighed and thought of that brightness she had been so close to, that warm loveliness. So close, but she had been stopped.

Minako slowly dozed off, lost in all the might-have-beens, the present, the past, and the future…or lack thereof.

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A/N: Eep, rather short chapter, huh? I promise a longer one in Exhale, part 6! ^_^ 


	6. Song

Exhale

The rain was gone now, drifting into a vanilla smeared night that receded into silvery dawn with its jutting beams of light. Snail-like streaks occupied the glassy surface of the hospital window, which was covered with a heavy tapestry. Not tapestry that was picked out with the intention of being cheerfully pulled back each day, silky and lustrous, but rough and burlap, weighty to the touch. Many a soul had occupied this room before, drowning themselves in their depressing illnesses, fading away with the dusky night. But with one such person, the odds would be tilted in their favor, the bleak curtains lifted, and light allowed to stream in.

Minako sat up in her bed, taking in deep breaths of air. Clean, crisp air, as clean and crisp as the snow-white sheets on her bed. She slowly lifted them, the quiet in the room deafening. Peeking her toes from beneath the sheets, she stretched them out and placed her feet on the floor. This odd feeling, stretching out her muscles after this demi-permanent stiffness had inhabited them for so long.

Straightening her back, she lifted her body slowly and shakily from the safeness of her bed. Sucking in breath. This airy feeling, feeling of fearlessness, she wanted it to last. She had been denied this for so long, she couldn't let go. She needed to be free so bad, to be broken from this unending circle desperately, to be unhooked from this madness.

One small, prolonged step at a time. One wobbly walk across the room. Aches radiated up and down her once dormant limbs, exercising as if they had been unearthed from a dark tomb. This small dance she was practicing, this silent song for freedom, it needed to be done, it needed to be sung, it needed to be heard and echoed and screamed and celebrated.

Reaching the curtains, Minako clung to them, digging her fingernails into the fabric for support. The metal rungs at the top held strong, though they groaned and creaked. Steadying herself, she could feel the sweat perspiring on her porcelain skin.

She took her hands and pulled them in between the folds of the tapestry and grasped it, witnessing a clip of the glittering bluish sky. With mighty force, as if her life depended on it, she threw them to the side, taking in the rising vision of the sun beyond the glasslike sky. Minako took a deep breath in, holding it inside her chest as if when she let go, her soul would escape through her mouth. With wonder and awe, she gazed at the rising light, the beautiful blue sky, the silver streaks dancing around like faeries suspended in flight, their wings sprinkling glitter about the damp coolness.

Minako closed her eyes, listening to this symphony of silence and peace and freedom. Little ghosts that once chased her about in her head seemed to wisp away, replaced with music. The sweetest music to her ears.

Minako exhaled.

* * *

Makoto lay in her bed, damp and shivering. Everything seemed to be frozen, to be shivering in desperation and confusedness. Her world was shaking, was rattled by something she didn't understand, something that took hold of her and refused to let go. This wobbly, shaking motion dizzied her to no end.

One kiss, one simple gesture, it could change everything. There she was, wet and cold and needy on his doorstep. And there he was, frozen in fear and speculation and the future, shrouded in a darkness that she couldn't fathom, even in her darkest hours through this whole trial. What was she dealing with, really? She couldn't mess with this, couldn't topple what she had managed to grab on to. But that kiss, that unthinkable action, that had changed everything. Her lips tingled at the spot where his lips had met hers. Nothing could replace this…nothing could replace Usagi….she didn't want to replace her.

Makoto's heart raced uncontrollably. Shivers cascaded down her spine to her heels. The locket was laying on the table beside her bed, and there Makoto lay, frozen damply on her side, fixated on the object. Through her windows there came streaks of blue-yellow light, signaling the coming of dawn. She had sat there the whole night, awake and freezing.

The bleeding red numbers on her digital clock clicked slowly to 6:30 AM. The radio turned on, radiating a sultry tune whispered among light beats. She could go to school if she wanted, but would there be any difference? She'd simply stare through her classes like she had done the night before, unable to come out of this haze.

In chilling detail, she had witnessed the last moments of her best friend's life. She was right there, and instead of her dying, Usagi did. This thought she could not shake. And then, to add insult to injury, the unthinkable had happened. She had shared a kiss with Mamoru. Usagi wasn't even rotting in the ground and she was already moving in on her territory, Makoto thought horrifically.

'I'm horrible,' Makoto thought gravely. 'I'm sick and twisted and deluded and absolutely horrible...' Makoto turned onto her other side and thought idly about the other girls, about Minako, about fighting evil and about going to school again to face her fears. Feeling safe was a thing she may have to take time to get used to now. She was filled with fear, fear that had replaced her raw brutality and nerves of steel. Something had been stolen from her, and she vowed she would get it back, somehow.

The music continued on and echoed off her pale walls, Makoto closing her emerald eyes and falling off into a dreamless sleep.

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A/N: This has to be one of the best chapters written for "Exhale" yet. More to come in the next chapter!


	7. Red

Exhale

Ami believed in facing your fears. Logical thinking, that's what she called it. Rationality. Scientific reasoning. Kind of like your parents telling you why there can't possibly be a monster underneath your bed, or ghosts in your closet. As she walked up to the large, looming building, leaden and breakable soul within, she dismissed these as all of her thoughts she had before.

Before.

The wind seemed to whisper harsh rhymes as she walked slowly up the cement steps to the double glass doors. Ami swallowed and grasped the metal handle. Cool air rushed from the inside lobby of Juuban Middle School as she pulled a door open and slipped in, her eyes adjusting from the honey sunlight. Her skirt felt so stiff and scratchy against her knobby knees, she noticed.

The hallways were naked and barely filled. Ami felt she needed to have this visit, this trip to hell, to get her out of this mindset. The thoughts that were entering her mind…they were too nightmarish, too bleak, too black. She needed peace, she craved to be cut from this awful world she was living in and to fly, fly without restraint in aqua-colored fields like a butterfly cut from pureness and white sky.

She walked out of the lobby and to the hallway, shaking as if she were dripping wet. Ami swallowed again, her palms becoming clammy and sweaty. She squeezed her hands into little fists and walked on. Her knees straightened and seemed to be made of flimsy paper and rubber bands as she dragged herself along this tortured walk. Breaking into a cold sweat, she reached a bend in the hallway. Looking down, she saw sparkling white tile floor illuminated by sunlight streaming through the clear windows. Digging her fingernails into the corner of wall beside her, she glimpsed a single red rose placed on the hallway floor, propped up against the wall.

Crimson flooded her head as she broke into a cold sweat, read each letter inscribed in gold on a tile next to the rose.

U…

S…

A…

G…

I…

Ami bent over and ran, ran as fast as she could from that spot, that moment in time. She flew into the bathroom and into a stall, sick to her stomach. After she was done, she sat back against the wall, pale and stricken. Overwhelmed, she began to sob uncontrollably, her cries bouncing off the walls of the girl's bathroom. Ami's sobs turned into shrill screams, screams of horror and grief and disbelief. The whiteness that filled her eyes receded to black as she leaned her head back and passed out.

* * *

Beneath this grief and sadness lay a job that still needed to be done, still needed to be filled. New darkness was gathering itself, preparing to destroy the world and all the lives contained on it. With the opposing side weakened by an unexpected change, malevolent forces were gripping beauty and love by its throat, a blade of evil cutting through the light and destroying what had been so precariously saved.

The soldiers were no longer brave, but scared.

The next risk to be taken would be to find new bravery in the face of sorrow, to lead where love had led them so many times before.

To victory against unbeatable odds.

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A/N: Sorry so short! Chapter 8 next!


	8. 

Exhale

Luna lay comfortable and warm. You couldn't really say she was happy. Her world had been shaken like it never had been before. Oh, being a talking cat wasn't exactly _normal_, and you did run into awkward situations every now and then, but she was always prepared. Prepared and preparing Usagi, her princess. The princess she had vowed to take care of and protect in the future. Somehow, somewhere, she had lost her princess in a way she could have never thought of.

She snuggled deeper into the blankets thrown on the cool floor, next to Artemis. He stirred, but remained asleep. When Usagi died, she couldn't bear the thought of staying in her room, or even her house. The air was dripping with grief and sorrow. Luna had seen Usagi's mother, Ikuko, walk hurriedly past the door to Usagi's room, as if it were some sort of obstacle she had to jump over. When she did peer in, though, her face would be ashen, dead, and she would reach for the doorknob and close it quietly.

Minako had arrived back from the hospital the day before. She was very tired and slept the whole time she had been home. Her mother had frantically hidden every painkiller and prescription drug inside the house. Minako wasn't even strong enough to debate the issue, collapsing into her bed and not waking up.

Luna had grumbled quietly about this, thinking that shoving yourself into sedation wasn't the way to go, for they all had to get up and fight again sometime. A tiny voice inside of her head said she was being a bit hypocritical, since she was also trying to drown her own fears of the future.

Luna pulled her nose out of the warmness of the blankets to witness something glistening in the room. Not glistening as in how silver and gold would glisten, but a sort of eye-catching glisten that is characteristic to things that are dark. She could feel something odd inside the room, and she purred uneasily as a small breeze began to blow in the otherwise quiet room. Minako slept on, her hair a bird's nest of tangles.

Artemis pulled his head from beneath the blankets.

"Luna…?"

She cocked her head to the side as she stared at the breeze (if you can really stare at a breeze), the wind growing stronger and stronger. Artemis looked over and gasped, untangling himself from the cotton and polyester and leaping onto the floor. Black rose petals swam and danced in the air, flying faster and more furious each second, until they came together at one point, forming a shadowy figure. Luna gaped with large blue cat eyes as it approached Minako's bed and grabbed her by the waist and slung it over its shoulders.

Artemis hissed, his fangs white and menacing. Minako awoke as flower petals began to encircle her and the figure, receding into black oblivion. She managed a strangled scream, half-awake and half-asleep, and Artemis lunged at a weak attempt to stop the situation.

A flicker, a bright black-white light, and the two were gone.

* * *

Rei kneeled in front of the fire, meditating deeply. The flames glowed orange and red, yellow and white, licking at the air and illuminating the room in eeriness.

She sighed deeply, taking in the smoky smell that settled into her lungs and deep in her throat. Heat tingled at her lips as she went on with her endless meditation, quiet, and peace.

A bright jagged light struck her thoughts, so bright that her head ached and she opened her eyes widely and suddenly. Rei concentrated on the flames before her, unblinking and staring. The light in her head flickered again, driving her back to the floor, the bright black orbs of her eyes all-pupil. She was driven down again, almost pinned to the floor by an invisible force as she saw a scene, a black and white mustiness, with Minako's face emblazoned against the grayscale.

Minako.

Petals loomed around her golden hair, her body suspended and shrouded in a mysterious blurry darkness. For some odd reason, she was in her pajamas. Rei's mind grabbed at other characteristics; a broom, a mop, a tall flight of stairs. Like a butterfly, the fleeting images were gone before Rei could begin to understand them.

She broke out of the trance, sprawled out of the floor and sweating. The fire had died down to one single ember, quite a contrast to the roaring fire Rei had had before her vision.

Rei stood unsteadily and walked out into the cool night, the heat of the room filling out into the air.

She blinked, trying to gather her thoughts. Minako? In….in a room….in the dark. Now.

In the dark room. Now. Rose petals. Dark. Mop. Stairs.

Mop. Stairs.

Rei's head snapped up at the frantic steps of two people and the smaller pit-pat of paws against gravel. Luna, Makoto, Artemis, and Ami ran breathlessly to her. Rei turned, grabbed a pair of sandals and a light coat, and stood, stonily and grimly. They gaped at her, preparing to tell her of Minako's abduction, but before they could utter a word, she raised her hand to them to be silent.

"I know where Minako is."

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A/N: Who abducted Minako, and why? Find out in chapter 9 of Exhale!


	9. Surrender

Exhale

another time

another place

another love

maybe it will happen then, but I won't live my life on faith

so I'll keep my tears inside and drift away

where I'm all alone

  
Footsteps ricocheted into the distance, feet frantically crunching over the damp pavement. An odd group; two cats and four humans running into the night, in the direction of a school shrouded with sorrow and deafness. Some may have thought they were vandals, others simply bored teenagers. But this was different.

Very different.

Makoto screeched to a stop in front of the school, her emerald eyes glinting and sparkling in the faint moonlight. Rei, Mamoru, and then Ami followed by Artemis and Luna, slowed next to her. Ami glared emptily at the double glass doors, the hallway inside receding to blackness. Mamoru shifted uncomfortably in his shoes and didn't look at the school. Rei trotted slowly to the front, her black-violet hair splayed against her back in windswept strands.

Her voice chanted in breathy whispers, her eyes fixated in a haunting stare on Juuban Middle School. She turned to the others and beckoned them on.

Makoto's fear was beginning to catch up with her. Pulling her jacket closer around her shoulders, she shivered and looked into the moon. She wanted to die, she didn't want to relive this nightmare she was living with. Mamoru was on the side of her and she moved away from him, walking next to Ami.

Ami blinked weakly, her face washed pale in the dim light.

"I just realized something," she said absently.

"What?" Rei turned and stopped, biting her lip. "We really need to get going…I know it's hard, but…"

"I know that," Ami replied. "Minako….but…when we get there, what will we do? Our henshin pens are gone."

Rei blinked and gulped, her face turning a light shade of green. Mamoru winced, the reality setting in.

"I…I don't know. If we don't save Minako, who will? We have to fight…fight…" Her words dissolved into the back of her throat. She turned abruptly and resumed her pace around the side of the school.

They reached a musty side window and Rei stopped. Mamoru walked up to it and pulled on it, yanking the screen off the glass and then pushing it open. He stood back and stared, waiting for the next move in this suicide trip to save their friend.

Rei squeezed herself through the window and stood inside, waiting for the others. She narrowed her eyes and pulled Ami's arm, shoving her in. Makoto followed, Mamoru in tow, and the cats last.

Rei led them through a dark corridor and to a staircase that winded downward.

"That's the basement." Rei pointed down the dark, foreboding stairs to a door at the bottom.

"There." Makoto clung to Rei as they made their way down the staircase. Ami pushed forward and slid to the door. She opened it, standing in darkness underneath the doorframe, trembling in uncertainty.

It happened rather quickly. The light was so blinding it made their eyelids shudder, the force so strong it drove Makoto and Mamoru back against the winding, musty steps. Ami was thrust against the top steps with a muffled yell, her back scraping against the cement in sickening crunches and her face twisting in agony. Makoto screamed, and Rei shrieked in horror as Ami reached a sudden stop at a far wall, a pool of blood appearing from behind her head. Mamoru looked at Ami as if his soul had been yanked from his body.

The remaining ran to her side, Rei almost as lifeless as Ami was fast becoming. A heavy feeling dumped itself in the bottom of her stomach and weighed her down as she shakily grasped at the girl's tattered clothing, glimpsing Makoto clinging to the front of her jacket, stricken, and Mamoru too shocked to move.

"Ami! Oh please…Ami…" Rei whispered slowly, feeling as if she couldn't get enough breath to stay in her lungs.

The corridor became eerily quiet, with the exception of Ami's shallow and small breaths. Then the silence set in. Ami lay still and warm at the foot of the stairs, a bloody mess.

Rei stared in disbelief at her. She had no time to grieve, even think, because the strange light shot out of the darkness, seeking. She screeched and grabbed Makoto and Mamoru, bounding into the dark room. Makoto looked back at Ami, so still. She bit her tongue hard, tasting the blood in her mouth.

It was happening all over again.

Makoto's mind was unable to contemplate Ami's death, for as they slid slowly into the dark and musty space, an unbelievable image grabbed her undivided attention.

Minako, still wearing her nightclothes, was suspended three feet from the floor. The darkness around her was illuminated, ink-black rose petals airily drifting about her floating form. Rei's eyes locked on Minako, gasping and reaching out. Mamoru pulled her outstretched arms back quickly, pulling her and Makoto into a corner.

"I see you've come."

The voice sliced through the air around them, Mamoru jumping from the sound and grasping the two girls tighter to him. In the cover of the darkness his face was twisted into a look of anguish and grief. Two lives were lost now. He wondered who would be next.

"You little troublemakers…bitches…" The grating and slithering sound slid down Makoto's spine like an ice cube. She inhaled deeply, holding the breath in and pressing herself against the narrow space and Mamoru.

"Your friend…you came for your friend! Such loyalty…such wretched loyalty…" The low sound growled into the trio's ears, ever so close. Rei trembled harder now, sweat dripping off her forehead. Mamoru clenched his teeth in agony.

The faceless voice laughed now. "I've waited…so long…so very long…you're defenseless, can't….you…SEE?!" A hand unsheathed itself from the infinite blackness and pulled Rei by the neck. Mamoru let out an involuntary moan from deep in his throat. Makoto gasped in fear, incapacitated by the situation. A lump formed itself in her throat as she began to scream, louder and louder.

Rei was yanked from the safety of Mamoru's arms and into the darkness where her choking and struggle was audible. She freed herself and stumbled a short way towards Minako. The unearthly light came from the darkness and ripped into Rei, Mamoru yelling out as he mournfully watched her fall to the floor. Her hand was caught in the light underneath Minako, the fingers still and outreaching. Makoto breathed in and out, her chest rising and falling heavily. She dug her fingers into Mamoru's shoulder and shivered violently.

The ethereal light was pushed on Mamoru and Makoto, blinding them. A figure stepped into the light and sneered, holding Minako by the waist. Mamoru clenched his teeth and held Makoto tighter, who was gasping in terror. The evil apparition held Minako out in front of them and stabbed her with a deadly beam of light, her body crumpling to the ground. Makoto placed her hand over her mouth, her lower lip trembling. She blinked back the tears, her vision blurring at Minako and Rei outstretched on the basement floor. The terror was so thick, the pain so startlingly close. She could feel Mamoru's shaking body, feel his fear. In a split second, his face was emblazoned by the light from another attack. He slid out from their once safe hiding spot and ran, clutching Makoto for dear life.

Mamoru's efforts were in vain. The two ran, only to have the evil form slither behind them, cackling manically. It grabbed Makoto and attempted to yank her away from Mamoru. He held strong, pulling her away from it. They pushed on until they fell, scattered from each other.

In the dim light Makoto could see Mamoru across from her, doubled over on his side. Her ankle radiated pain weakly. She rolled herself absently onto her stomach and pulled onto her good leg, wincing. The evil entity narrowed its eyes. It held out its hands before it and concentrated, a black-white sphere forming. The light in the basement dimmed. Makoto felt light-headed.

"Oh…o-oh no…" Makoto stammered. Their captor turned to Mamoru, ready to unleash the attack, a smirk across its face. This form wasn't human. What it was doing wasn't human. Oh, how much she wished for power again…

Makoto breathed deeply and screamed, sliding quickly in front of Mamoru as the sphere was unleashed. She felt it hit her, the silence envelop her. Her body slid into the wall in back of them, Mamoru behind her. It cut so deep, the blood so much, so red…she knew this was it, nothing could save her, how she wished for it to end, her screams to silence themselves, their melody to cease as it all fell down…it was gone, all of it…they were gone and over…

As she lay there, Makoto could feel Mamoru weakly sliding his arms to her waist and sobbing. She opened her eyes slightly and could see that the attack had gone straight through her to Mamoru. She pulled her head down, the stillness settling in.

This was the end.

Mamoru lay by her side, his breath slowing considerably. She could feel the rise and fall of his lungs, feel his struggle. They were like so many feathers in the wind, freely floating aimlessly without a destination. Destination…such a wasted word. There was no destination really. They were fighting without a cause.

The pain stabbed her now. It ran across her stomach and all the way to her chest, little pinpricks of death like thousands of knives. Makoto turned her head to the side, holding in the sobs lodged in her throat, and gave up.

Makoto's fading hearing picked up the last sounds of the evil specter laughing loudly above their bodies. It bled away from her, mingling with the hopelessness she was so fast leaving behind…

The grating, laughing sound suddenly stopped. Mamoru, fading fast, closed his eyes and admitted defeat. Soon, he smiled to himself, he would see her. His princess. His love. His life.

The background faded out, all was silent. The two lay dying on the floor, helpless, defenseless. Warmness began to take hold of them, hold them, comfort them. The floor beneath the dead glowed unearthly, carrying them into the air and the light.

Rei opened her eyes. Her violet orbs looked about in mute wonderment, feeling herself being floated about. The colors…there were so many colors. She could hear the sorrowful sound of many violins, thousands of smooth sounds together, so pretty it made her heart weep and her soul soar.

Makoto slowly opened her emerald eyes, seeing Rei, Ami, Mamoru and Minako floating next to her. In the middle was a blindingly brilliant white light, so pure, so perfect she was stunned.

"I've missed you. Oh…how I've missed you…"

Usagi's voice spoke out of the pristine air, clear and echoing. She was everywhere, everything, and nothing at the same time. Mamoru gaped at the light, so sad, so happy.

Usagi's voice was now a low and breathy whisper. "I've loved every one of you…I never wanted you to suffer so…so much…suffer so much in the name of myself…" She appeared in the middle of them, light radiating from her body. Mamoru gasped and reached out, but pulled back, afraid and scared.

Usagi turned, her hair taking on a yellow-silver ambiance. "I will give you your lives back. I have overcome the darkness…I have overcome it. I want all of you to live normally, the way it would be if I had never become a princess…your wish to be normal…"

Turning to Mamoru, tears streaming down her face, she placed a kiss on his lips softly and backed away, the rays of light cutting and flying through each of them, pulling them off to their separate destinies.

* * * 

Mamoru awoke, wiping sleep from his eyes and yawning. Dawn peeked through his window. He rolled over contentedly, pulling his arms over Makoto, sleeping peacefully next to him in her old, light green PJ's. She stirred, but didn't wake. Smiling to himself, feeling as if he were the king of the universe, he drifted back to sleep before the day caught up with him.

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A/N: Whew! What a long chapter to write. I'm sorry I delayed it so much, but it's been the end of the year for school and concentrating has been a bit hard. I wanted to make it as perfect as I could, and I am very happy with this ending. Thank you for all the reviews, they are appreciated greatly! ^_^ 


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